Sam Rockwell

"I feel a little strange all the time, a little bit off-center. I never feel that people are as nutty as me." – Sam Rockwell

Two parts talent, one part weird, Sam Rockwell has a future in Hollywood, especially since there's not really anyone else like him these days. Whether that's good or bad is debatable, but Sam Rockwell is bringing a lot of "weird good" to his performances at the moment. Ambitious indies like Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Moon show him off as a capable if offbeat lead, while more mainstream fare like The Green Mile, Frost/Nixon and Iron Man 2 have afforded him the chance to flex his oddities in showy supporting roles. Either way, he's got it made.

MAGNETISM

Women like the eccentric mind, and we'd like to think that Sam Rockwell has that Hollywood contest won. So what has he learned about dating from playing sex addicts, killers and other bizarre denizens of the night? If anything, he's learned how to maintain his best behavior on a first date, because he got the bad stuff out of his system already. That was taken care of in Robin's Big Date, a short film where he played a horny Batman who turns a romantic evening for Robin (Justin Long) into a total disaster. While Rockwell and Justin Long are still close friends, they have ditched the whole superhero motif and now leave the costumes at home when they're out macking on the ladies.

So what kind of celebrity gal would date an eccentric actor with a closet full of weird, and sometimes very creepy roles? Drew Barrymore, of course. The two were a couple from 2001 to 2002, before they went their separate ways. Nevertheless, Sam Rockwell doesn't seem to want her back. Instead, he points to Sarita Choudhury, a British actress, as "the one that got away." We're afraid to ask why she left. If he does rekindle the flame with Sarita, don't count on Rockwell to add to his legacy by having children -- there's already one of him, anyway. On the topic of kids, he says, "I definitely don't want to become a parent. It's not my bag."

SUCCESS

Sam Rockwell is a bit of an odd duck, even by Hollywood standards. Possibly the very first "name actor" to list private investigating as a past job, he's either weird, talented or quite a bit of both. Rockwell hints that he may in fact be the second coming of Gary Oldman, saying in interviews that he wants to "get inside that guy's head." No one else has done it, so what makes you think you will, Sam Rockwell? Resident film god Roger Ebert compares Rockwell to another legendary Hollywood eccentric, calling him "The latter-day version of Christopher Walken -- not all the time, but when you need him, he's your go-to guy for weirdness."

Despite his many notable films, which have run the gamut from The Green Mile and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to Frost Nixon, Moon, and the upcoming Iron Man 2, Sam Rockwell actually prefers theater acting. This is mostly because he finds it to be a greater challenge. A long-term member of the LAByrinth Theatre Company, which boasts Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman as a co-director, Rockwell has worked on London and New York stages in plays such as Zoo Story, Love and Human Remains and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.

Sam Rockwell Biography

California-born Sam Rockwell lived in Manhattan until his actor parents got divorced and split up his time between the Big Apple and San Francisco. His parental influences got the better of him at age 10 when he jumped on stage to play Humphrey Bogart in a street comedy performance that also featured his mom. Later attending School of the Arts High School, Rockwell didn't find school to be near funny or weird enough to continue, so he got stoned instead and dropping out. When his parents enrolled him in a special alternative program, he returned and rediscovered a passion for acting in the process.

Sam Rockwell's Hollywood debut came in 1988's Francis Ford Coppola-produced horror film, Clownhouse. Though he got roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, NYPD Blue and Law & Order, he was broke, and wasn't enjoying his side jobs as a restaurant busboy and bicycle-riding burrito delivery man. So he did the logical thing and turned to private investigating instead. Working as a private dick's assistant, he followed married women and took pictures of their suspected trysts. Calling it "pretty sleazy" (ya think?), he returned to acting, catching his first true break as a Davy Crockett-obsessed loner in 1996's Box of Moon Light. Within two years, he had three films (Lawn Dogs, Safe Men, Jerry and Tom) open simultaneously at the Sundance Film Festival, and celebrated 1999 with a mainstream role in Galaxy Quest.

sam rockwell stars in the green mile and confessions of a dangerous mind

Looking to enter the 21st century with a jolt and a bang, Sam Rockwell joined Tom Hanks for a walk along Stephen King's The Green Mile. As deranged death row killer Wild Bill, he feasted on the opportunity to play a role even darker than his previous work. He would later lighten things up in 2000 as a programmer with a villainous streak in Charlie's Angels.

In 2002, Sam Rockwell reunited with one of the Angels, Drew Barrymore, but added Julia Roberts to the mix for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the first directorial effort from George Clooney. Finally, Rockwell had found a character that was as eccentric as he was and he totally disappeared into the role of Chuck Barris, the Gong Show host who allegedly led a double life as one of the CIA's hired guns. The subject matter was too strange even for audiences, but not for critics, and Rockwell was rewarded with the Silver Berlin Bear Award from the Berlin Film Festival for his acting efforts. He followed Confessions up as Nicolas Cage's con-artist partner in 2003's Matchstick Men.

sam rockwell stars in moon and iron man 2

After starring as the brother of a coward, specifically Casey Affleck, in 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Sam Rockwell was tapped to play the title hero in Iron Man, because the studio had second thoughts about casting Robert Downey Jr. That ultimately fell through, so instead he played a different kind of hero – a sex addict who boinks every woman in sight – in 2008's Choke. Claiming that he couldn't relate to the character (no, of course not), Sam Rockwell said the role "took some work," so he researched it through a sex addiction group, and the film later won a Special Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Sam Rockwell jumped from sex to politics (insert joke here) in Frost/Nixon to play James Reston Jr. a key investigator who helps David Frost conquer Richard Nixon on prime time television. In 2009, Rockwell has six films due, including the Robert De Niro – Kate Beckinsale family drama Everybody's Fine, the Hilary Swank legal drama Betty Anne Waters and Moon, which finds him as an astronaut facing obstacles in his attempt to go back to Earth. The film is directed by Duncan Jones, better known as David Bowie's son. In 2010, Sam Rockwell will be seen in the Iron Man series after all, playing key villain Justin Hammer.